The Adani Group announced an investment of nearly $1 billion in Navi Mumbai International Airport, with plans to commence operations by December the following year.
Of the total investment of Rs 86.25 billion in the Navi Mumbai airport, Adani infused Rs 17.10 billion as equity. Additionally, they secured Rs 29 billion in term loans from a consortium of banks. Furthermore, a sum of Rs 36.55 billion in equity was contributed by the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (Cidco), a city planning agency in Maharashtra. As the project progresses, both Adani and Cidco are set to invest an additional Rs 15.11 billion.
The banks had recently completed their due diligence, which was followed by the investment.
During an annual general meeting held on 19 July, Gautam Adani, the group chairman, informed shareholders that the Navi Mumbai airport would achieve operational readiness by December 2024. "The goal is to launch the first of the four international passenger terminals before December 2024," the same source noted. This terminal is anticipated to manage a minimum of 20 million passengers and 300,000 tonnes of cargo annually. It aims to alleviate the traffic burden at the Mumbai international airport, which is expected to witness 51 million passengers passing through in the current fiscal year.
The current funding round is sufficient to complete the initial two phases out of the planned five for the Navi Mumbai airport. The entire project requires an investment of Rs 208.53 billion, with at least Rs 127.70 billion expected to be raised as term loans from a consortium of lenders. The financial closure for this was accomplished last year, and additional due diligence has been conducted in recent months following the Hindenburg report.
The consortium of lenders includes State Bank of India, EXIM Bank of India, IDBI Bank, India Infrastructure Finance Co, Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, and Bank of Maharashtra, as mentioned by the two sources. Some of these loans have a tenure of up to 26 years, stated the first insider.
